The Forbidden Word
by NovelistServant
Summary: Stanley and Stanford's best friend, Hephzibah Cece, didn't have a coat, until her grandmother made her one since her family couldn't afford to buy her one. Hephzibah was proud and twins thought it was cool, but the rest of New Jersey didn't agree. Part of my Crash and Burn AU. rated as such for mature language.


Stanley was a good friend - heck, a great friend! - but he sometimes didn't know when to quit. He had spent all afternoon copying Hephzibah in a girly high-pitched voice that was fun to do but incredibly annoying to the girl. She snapped at him to stop it, but Stanley only repeating her words and kept on going the entire walk home from school. Stanford tried to talk to Hephzibah, walking next to her, but he ended up watching Stanley walk behind Hephzibah, the younger twin laughing at how annoyed she was becoming over his own joke.

But then Hephzibah stopped, spun around so her black curls flew everywhere, and shouted, "NIGGA!"

Stanley froze, his cheeks red and his lips tightly shut. Even at nine-years-old, he and Stanford knew better than to use the taboo. Stanford burst into a fit of laughter over the look on his brother's face and Hephzibah smiled smugly, for she had not only won but made one of her best friends laugh.

* * *

It was Fall. School had started a month ago and now the warm summer days were going away, replaced with cool fun days to play in. Stanford, Stanley, and Hephzibah still liked to play on the beach, but now it was a little too cold to play in the water, so they settled for sandcastles or sometimes the boys would invite Hephzibah to their very special boat and play pirates, with the girl as a monster the boys had to fight.

One day after school, Stanley looked around the in-progress _Stan O' War_ wildly. "Brace yourselves, Sixer! This could be our greatest mission yet."

"What do you think it could be?" The boy with glasses asked. "Sharks? Sirens? Maybe more ghost pirates?"

Hephzibah jumped up from crouching by the ship and wiggled her arms as she made a monster noise that sounded a lot like the word "kraken" repeated over and over again.

"Oh, NO!" Stanley yelled and pointed his wooden sword at Hephzibah.

"The Kraken!" Stanford gasped, unable to keep his smile away. "Legends says this beast won't rest until it devours every ship in the sea!"

"Well it's not getting _our_ ship!" Stanley declared victoriously and stood at the very edge of the ship. "On guard!" And he readied his sword to pretend swing at the monster.

However, Stanford tossed Hephzibah a spare wooden sword and she grinned and began to play with her friend from on the sand.

"Oh, no! The Kraken's tentacles are coated with spikes, making it heavily armed!" Stanford yelled, still smiling over the fun game and he pulled out his own sword. "I'll save you, Stan!"

Now Hephzibah was up against two determined sailors. She smiled and asked, "Hey! How's that fair?!"

"Wow, I didn't know the Kraken could talk." Stanley sneered as he and Hephzibah hit their wooden swords together.

"Shaddup." Hephzibah teased back. Stanford's sword then barely touched Hephzibah's side, so she pulled it out of his grasped and pinned it under her arm, pretending to be stabbed. "ARGH! My only weakness: dyin'!" And then she stuck out her tongue and fell backwards on the sand.

Stanford laughed and Stanley punched the air. "Yes! We did it!"

"We'll be eating fried squid for months!"

"Ew, Sixer, that's gross."

Hephzibah laughed and Stanford hopped down and gave her a hand to help her up. "Thanks for playing with us again. It's kind of nice to have an almost-real villain to fight."

"No problem." Hephzibah said as she stood up and dusted the sand off her hair. "It's a lot of fun! Maybe some time one of ya could be the bad guy, though."

"Yeah!" Stanley agreed. "One of us could take our best friend out on a special trip, only to face off again… a siren! But Hephzie's too cool and not into girls, so she isn't fooled and has to save the day!"

"Only if _you're_ the siren, Stanley. I don't want to have to fight her." Stanford sneered with his arms crossed over his chest.

Hephzibah punched his shoulder. A gust of wind blew by, but Stanford (who always wore his brown jacket) and Stanley (who had rolled down the long sleeves of his red-and-white striped shirt) were unbothered by it, but Hephzibah (in her overalls and purple t-shirt) shivered and rubbed her arms. Stanford, without thinking about it, shed his jacket and put it over Hephzibah's shoulders.

"Thanks, but m'fine." She said and tried to give it back, but Stanford shook his head, okay in his red sweater.

"We better get home, anyway. Ma will have dinner ready soon."

"Did you forget your jacket or something, Hephzie?" Stanley asked as they walked towards home.

"I don't have one." Hephzibah said with a shrug. "Guess I gotta start wearin' my sweaters, huh?"

"Won't your folks get you a coat?"

Stanford punched his brother's shoulder too sharply to be written off as "horsing around". Stanley winced, not only from the pain, but from the mistake he had made; he and Stanford sometimes forgot that the Cece family was tighter on money than the Pines family.

Hephzibah didn't notice any of this and only shook her head. "Nope. Grandma's makin' me one!"

"_Making_ you a coat?" Stanford repeated and smiled. "That's great!"

"Thanks. I'm real excited! It's gonna have all sorts of colors n' buttons!" Hephzibah said with a grin while her friends only smiled and listened, until they were at the street their homes were on and had to say goodbye for the evening.

The next morning, there was a knock at the door when all five Pines were eating breakfast. Stanford, Stanley, and Ma smiled, recognizing Hephzibah's knock, while Shermie ate his toast quietly and Pa raised his newspaper.

"C'mon in, Hephzibah." Ma called.

The little girl opened the back-door, closed it behind her, and hopped down the hallways until she reached the doorway leading to the kitchen-living-dining area, grinning from ear to ear with her Grandpa's old messenger bag for a backpack on and a hand on her strap. "Hi!"

The Pines stared at her. Shermie stopped mid-toast and Pa lowered his paper a little. Ma smiled lovingly and the twins grinned at their best friend; Hephzibah wore a coat made from rags that were sewn together. Every piece of cloth was a different shape and color, some red, some blue, some green, one patch by her left shoulder was even yellow with tiny red question marks on it. The buttons keeping the coat together were all different, as well. The coat looked sturdy and functional enough, actually well made and durable and neatly cut, but nothing could hide the fact that it was made from rags.

"Well, good mornin', Hephzibah." Ma greeted. "Had breakfast?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Wow, Hephzie," Stanley got down and went up to her, admiring her new coat. "Did Grandma make it?"

"She did!" Hephzibah even turned around to give her friend a full-view. "Ain't it pretty?"

"Yeah! You look great."

Stanford also joined them and adjusted his glasses, happy for Hephzibah. "It kind of reminds me of Joseph's coat. You know, the one Israel gave him and it made his brothers jealous?"

"Yeah!" Hephzibah exclaimed. "She told me that story while she sewed! She even blessed it with a kiss so maybe it'll be lucky!"

"Wow, a lucky coat of many colors." Stanford held her arm to admire the careful stitching and the different patterns. "We should test it today after school to see how lucky it is!"

"Alright, alright, you two hurry and get ready for school." Ma instructed and Stanley shoved the last slice of toast he had in his mouth and the boys ran off to finish getting ready; Hephzibah followed them to talk to them and keep them company.

When the kids were gone, Pa sneered, "Can't even get her a proper…"

"Fil!" Ma interrupted and glared daggers at him.

Shermie turned red and emptied his glass of orange juice before leaving the table to go to middle school.

On the way to school, the early Fall morning was a bit chilly, but none of the kids shivered, all dressed in coats. On the way, Hephzibah saw something shiny on the sidewalk a few feet away and ran to it; it was a penny face-side up. "Find a penny, pick it up, then all day you'll have good luck!" Hephzibah quoted from her grandfather and shoved the penny in her coat pocket.

"No fair!" Stanley laughed. "Now you're twice as lucky!"

"Maybe that's a good backup in case the coat isn't lucky." Stanford wondered.

"Nuh, uh." Hephzibah said, shaking her head. "Grandma blessed it with a kiss. Nothin's more lucky than a kiss. Why'd ya think grown-ups want 'em so bad?"

Stanford shrugged; that sort of made sense to him; he couldn't think of any other reason why people would want a kiss unless the activity was somehow secretly fun.

The kids got to school and Hephzibah smiled with pride, but that smile slowly went away as she began to notice that other kids were pointing at her and looked like they were laughing. The kids were definitely not popular, Stanford known as the Six-Fingered Freak and Stanley as the Loser Twin, and Hephzibah suffering the consequences of being their friend by being a good target for bullies, but it was still unusual to be laughed at and pointed out in a crowd.

Stanley put an arm around Hephzibah's shoulder and hurried them down the hall. "C'mon, let's move." He muttered.

Hephzibah thought something must be really bothering her friend if he was willing to get to class quicker. She was still confused as to what the kids were laughing at or pointing at them for, but she and her friends had learned that it was best to let these things go.

Their teacher, a mean old lady with pointy glasses and a matching nose, raised an eyebrow at Hephzibah, but this was unnoticed by everyone. Things went by normally, until lunchtime. Hephzibah, Stanley, and Stanford were walking to their lunch table when a girl from a group of other black girls talked to her.

"Hey, nice jacket."

Hephzibah smiled. "Thanks…"

"For a rag doll!" And the group of girls laughed.

Hephzibah was shocked, but it didn't last long; this particular group of dark-skinned girls loved to pick on her for being "boy-ish" and "trashy". Stanley hated them, mostly due to the fact that he couldn't punch them in the mouth. Stanford put a kind hand on Hephzibah's shoulder. "Just ignore them."

"Ew! Now Ms. Trashy's got the plague!" The girl spat and cackled. "At least now you're dressed for it!"

The table laughed maliciously. Stanford's face turned red and he hid his polydactyl hands behind his back. Hephzibah scowled and gladly took his hand, pulling them to the back of the cafeteria to eat in peace, ignoring the "ew"s and "oo"s from the girls.

"Seriously, Hephzie, you should sock 'em for us." Stanley growled as he pulled out his sandwich.

"I can't." Hephzibah replied as she hugged herself, holding her coat of many colors tightly for comfort and luck. "Grandma'd kill me if I got into a fight. Says it ain't lady-like."

"What does your grandfather say?" Stanford asked.

"He says I can fight 'em if someone fights me first, but mean words don't count."

The day only got worse when Hephzibah walked to the big trash cans to throw her paper bag away and one of the girls were nearby, so she stuck out her foot and made Hephzibah fall by the can and it tipped over on top of her, decorating her in food-wrappers, half-empty ranch cups, apple cores, and a banana peel laid on her black curls. Stanford and Stanley gasped and hurried passed the crowd of kids roaring with laughter to help her.

"Oh, no, I'm sorry." The girl said sarcastically. "At least you're where you belong."

Hephzibah bit her lip. Stanford helped her up to her feet while Stanley aided in cleaning up the mess. Luckily no stains got on Hephzibah's coat of many colors, but her hair caught a piece of bubblegum near the ends and she was self-conscious of smelling like rotting food. Stanley, trembling with rage, wanted to do something productive to help, so he took Hephzibah into the girls' bathroom, unbothered at breaking the rule of entering the wrong bathroom, and used a wet comb to try to get the gum out of her hair, skipping an hour of class to do it. Hephzibah just stood with her back to the mirror and tried not to get stupid and emotional.

"Hey," Stanley said softly as he used a wet paper towel to try to make the gum less sticky. "Don't let those jerks get to you." He was far too used to saying something like that to his twin.

Hephzibah squeezed her eyes shut. "Stan, do ya think m'ugly?"

"What?!" Stan gasped. "No way! You're really _really_ pretty! You're one of the most beautiful girls I've ever met! If you weren't my best friend I would've asked you out by now!"

Hephzibah couldn't help but smile at that, but it was soon gone. "Nobody else thinks so."

"They're all stupid." Stanley said firmly. "You're beautiful and amazing and anyone who can't see that… that's their loss."

"I just… don't wanna end up alone."

"You'll never be alone."

"But what'll happen when ya n' Ford finish your boat n' go away?"

Stanley hadn't thought of that. Hephzibah was their best friend in the whole world, and really their only friend outside of family, but the _Stan O' War_ was the twins' thing. Hephzibah liked the boat and didn't mind playing on it, but the boys had made it clear that that was _their_ dream, and she respected that. Some things were only for family. Still, Stanley hated to leave Hephzibah all alone in Glass Shard Beach, so he said firmly, "We'll always be friends, Hephzie. Always. We'll send you letters and gifts and maybe even hook you up with some cool sailors if you want."

Hephzibah giggled at that. "No sailor'd want me. No one'd want me."

"I would." Stanley said stubbornly and then stopped soaking the gum and stood in front of his friend. "Tell you what, if we're not married when we're… thirty, I'll be with you and marry you."

Hephzibah stared at him. "W-Would ya really?"

"Sure!" Stanley put an arm around her shoulder and pointed out into the distant future excitedly. "Nothing wrong with promising to be with your best friend forever."

Hephzibah giggled at that logic. It sounded nice to not have to worry about dying alone. "Okay, but let's make it thirty-five, just in case."

"Deal." And Stanley held out his hand.

Hephzibah spat into her hand and held out her hand, too. Stanley grinned, spat into his hand, and they shook on it to seal the promise. Then the boy went back to trying to comb the piece of bubblegum out of the girl's black curls.

When the gum was finally pulled out, Hephzibah washed her face and skin with a paper towel to try to feel clean and then they went back to class, excused for being an hour late when Stanford explained what happened and Stanley even brought the gum for proof. The teacher looked mad, but ultimately decided to let it go.

Hephzibah felt much better after her talk with Stanley and when class was dismissed for the day she and the boys planned to play on the swings by the _Stan O' War_. The trio was almost outside of town, their sneakers crunching the sand, when snotty laughter disturbed the friendly atmosphere.

"Well, dime my novel! If it isn't the discount Mystery Twins."

Stanley groaned with annoyance and sagging shoulders. Stanford rolled his eyes. Hephzibah turned to finally meet the town-famous Sibling Brothers; they were blond, rich, twins, and rivals of the real Mystery Twins. She had never met them before, but heard all about them in Grandpa's papers and the story her friends told her about the Jersey Devil; it was last summer when the two pairs of twins faced-off and Stanley and Stanford ended up grounded for the rest of the summer, resulting in Hephzibah having to sneak in through the window to avoid a lonely summer.

Ascot and Dicky wore really nice, expensive wool car coats on top of their private-school uniforms.

"Don't you two airheads got anything better to do?" Stanley asked.

Dicky's eyes moved to Hephzibah, who was between the boys, and he snickered with laughter. "Well, I knew you two had insufficient taste but this is just deplorable. You really couldn't obtain a better, more fitted friend than _that?_" And he pointed at her.

Hephzibah's face turned red and she looked away. She could deal with being called dirt or trashy by these jerks, because here she could defend herself more freely outside the school's walls, but she knew Stanley and Stanford could get a way better friend than her and _that_ bothered her way more than any insult on her appearance.

Stanford, for the first time all day, was legitimately angry. "Hey! You don't talk about her like that!"

"Yeah!" Stanley yelled.

"Oh, really." Ascot sneered. "What _is_ she wearing? Is that supposed to be _clothes_? Looks more like something a tramp fished from the garbage."

That made Hephzibah mad. She glared at the blond twins. "My Grandma's coat's worth more than all the clothes on your back!"

"You tell 'em, Hephzie!" Stanley encouraged.

"Aw, that's adorable." Ascot mocked. "But mostly sad. Like an orphan puppy with no arms or legs. Speaking of which, a little birdy told me that a girl named Hephzie Cece was nothing more but a little inconsequential orphan."

"She is NOT an orphan!" Stanley snapped.

"She has no mother nor father, does she?" Dicky asked. "Seems to me her parents made the right choice leaving _her_ behind."

Stanley opened his mouth to shout, but he heard a sniff. He turned and his jaw dropped to find Hephzibah scrubbing her eyes with the sleeve of her coat of many colors. Stanford wrapped an arm around her and put his other hand on her exposed shoulder, giving her a side hug. Stanley had never been so angry in his entire life and someone had to **pay**.

"You… you…" Stanley raised a fist, but Ascot shook his finger.

"Ah, ah, Stanley. Remember, we have photographers all over town. One touch on us and we'll have the proof we need to expose you and ground you all over again."

"Okay, _you_ didn't ground us last time, ya priss." Stanley growled. "And I'll gladly take you down any time!"

"Stanley, no." Stanford said firmly and grabbed his arm as he still hugged Hephzibah. "Let's just go."

"Oh, off they go again." Ascot said to his brother cheekily. "Off to solve a mystery a three-year-old could crack in it's sleep. So much for dandy deduction skills and impressive intelligence."

"At least they never have to _buy_ their answers." Hephzibah snapped and stopped to face them. "They can solve any case with only their pure talent."

Stanford and Stanley stopped walking and smiled at Hephzibah with pride, not only for her standing up to the Sibling Brothers but also for standing up for them.

The blond twins scowled ugly. Dicky stepped towards her and glared at her like she was the filthiest bit of scum on Earth. "No asked you, you nasty…"

And then he said it. The big one. The word not even Stanley touched. The n-dash-dash-dash-e-r word. The mother of all swear words. The only word worse than what Dicky yelled when he was being chased by the Jersey Devil; it appeared he had become more comfortable with swears since then.

Stanley and Stanford just gasped in horror for their best friend in the whole world. Ascot also gasped, but now it was his turn to smile with pride. Dicky looked down at the girl before him, only two inches shorter than him, and he watched with satisfaction as a tear fell on her cheek.

The moment that was seen, Dicky fell back as a six-fingered fist punched him in the face, putting those stupid boxing lessons to use. "Leave her alone." He said in a low voice that even scared Stanley.

"Hey, hey, nice shot, Sixer." Stanley approved.

Ascot ran to Stanford and punched him, defending his twin. Then Stanley jumped into the fight and Dicky did, too, all four boys rolling around in the sand and punching the living daylights out of each other.

"Boys, stop it!" Hephzibah yelled, wiping her eyes dry, but it was no use; boys will be boys. She leaned against a building and decided to let the Pines each those jerks a lesson. Hephzibah quietly hugged herself and hid her face in her coat.

In the end the Sibling Brothers ran away, wailing over their injuries. Hephzibah hurried to her friends as Stanley helped Stanford up, both of whom had their own injuries; Stanley had a black eye and Stanford's lip was bleeding. He wiped some blood on his hand and looked down at his fingers. "Pa isn't going to like this."

Hephzibah took each of their hands and led the way. "C'mon, let's go home."

Whenever the boys got into a fight or were jumped, Hephzibah took them to her house. If they went to the Pines' pawnshop, Ma would fuss over them and Pa would scold them to act like men and that would start an argument full of yelling between the two adults, so they had learned that it was best to go to the Ceces' apartment over the piano store.

When they got into the small apartment, Grandpa was in his rocking chair, reading a book. He stood and watched his granddaughter go into the bathroom for the first-aid kit and then the old pianist invited the boys to sit on the couch. Grandpa sat back down, knowing Hephzibah could handle this, and soon she began to properly care for her friends, first giving Stanley an ice-bag to cool his eye down with.

"What happened to y'all?" Grandpa asked gently. "Was it Crampelter again?"

"No." Stanley sighed as he held the ice-bag to his eye and Hephzibah went to the kitchen sink to wet a washcloth. "It was the Sibling Brothers."

"Those blond twins from the papers?" Grandpa checked. "How's ya end up fightin' 'em."

"We didn't start it." Stanley quickly defended.

"I never said ya did, son." Grandpa said calmly.

Stanley's cheeks turned pink, not used to this sort of faith and gentleness from an older man. "W-Well, they were making fun of Hephzie. They called her a lot of bad stuff."

Grandpa watched his little girl go to Stanford and hold the damp cloth to his bleeding lip. Stanford helped to hold it there with a smile. "My little half pint of sweet cider half drunken up? Called bad things? Like what?" His voice was full of sorrow and was as gentle as an autumn breeze.

"Said she was dirty," Stan explained downcasted. "And trashy, and… Dicky called her a…"

Hephzibah, who had been on her knees by the first-aid kit, stood quickly and walked away with her arms crossed, until her back was to everyone in the room and she faced the kitchen. Grandpa waited patiently until he heard her croak, "He called me a nigger."

Grandpa's jaw dropped and he quietly took in some air. "He did not." He said quietly.

"He did." Stanford said darkly. "After that, I punched him in the face."

"And did a good job at it, too." Stanley added and punched his shoulder lightly, making Stanford smile a little bit.

Grandpa studied his granddaughter. She was clutching her new coat tightly, so much so her arms trembled. He was afraid this might happen, that she might be set apart and treated differently. He sighed and said tiredly, "I'm so sorry ya had to go through that, Half-Pint."

"We are, too." Stanley said sincerely. "Those idiots don't know what they're talking about."

"But they were right," Hephzibah sighed and licked the wooden floor weakly. "Ya can have way better friends than me. You're smart n' brave n' cool, n' m'just… me. You're not normal, but you're special. M'not normal _or_ special. M'nothin'."

"Alicia-Sarah Hephzibah Fisher Cece, that is not true." Grandpa said firmly, unable to hear his little girl talk so negatively about herself. "Ya _are_ special. You're much cleverer than ya give yourself credit for, not to mention one of the most carin' souls I've never met n' you're beauty's beyond compare, both inside n' outside."

"Yeah, Hephzie." Stanley agreed. "All that not-special stuff's crazy, and I know crazy living with Ford."

"Hey!"

"You're, like, one of the best kids I've ever met!" Stanley went on and Stanford decided to let the insult go so he could nod in agreement. "And if you ever stop being my friend, I'll throw myself into the ravine!"

"Stan is right. For once." Stanford said, earning another punch on the shoulder. "We'll always be your friend. You're amazing in every way possible and you're way more valuable than gold or any treasure we'll find when we leave this dumb town."

Hephzibah blushed furiously and shoved her hands in her pocket, looking away. Her fingers touched something cold and metal and she pulled it out; it was her penny. She wasn't too sure after today if her penny or her coat was lucky, but she did know one thing. Hephzibah pocketed the coin and said, "Ya know what? I don't need luck." She then hugged the boys as she stood between them. "I've got ya guys."

Stanford hugged her back tightly and Stanley eventually agreed reluctantly. The twins smiled at each other from behind Hephzibah's back.


End file.
